Prime Minister John Key will replace US President Barack Obama as chairman of a top-level meeting in Bali this week.

On Friday afternoon, Obama cancelled his trip to the leaders’ summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum on the island because of the American Budget crisis that has resulted in about 800,000 Government workers not being paid.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will represent Obama at the summit, and at the Trans Pacific Partnership meeting on the sidelines.

NZ Trade Minister Tim Groser said it was decided yesterday that Key should chair the meeting of the 12 countries negotiating the TPP agreement.

The 12 countries are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Their combined GDP is around US$25.4 trillion.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 7th, 2013 at 9:00 am and is filed under International Politics, NZ Politics.
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On Friday afternoon, Obama cancelled his trip to the leaders’ summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum on the island because of the American Budget crisis that has resulted in about 800,000 Government workers not being paid.

This is mostly bullshit. If you check American blogs, you will find that all the military and all civil servants had their wages continued, with the House passing separate bills to keep funding government.
But senate leader Harry Reid and Obama are not applying them, because it does not suit their agenda. They have even tried to close war memorials that are open to the public with no staff employed, and have prevented Catholic military chaplains from saying Mass on military grounds for military Catholic personnel.
Obama is just trying to inflict as much pain on the US people to further his Marxist agenda.

This international travel by Key doesn’t cost the taxpayer much. If and when Cunliffe becomes PM it will be different.

Two planes will be needed, the normal RNZAF VIP plane and an Antonov An-225 to carry his statue.

That statue is causing problems. There are talks between Fonterra and Cunliffe’s staff about this. Fonterra wants a quarter size bronze replica of the Oamaru stone original, and the Cunliffe team are holding out for a half-size. Fonterra acknowledge their eternal debt for his strategic input in conceptual days, but say even with the quarter size they will have to raise the ceiling of the corporate office foyer, where it will be placed.

It seems like the TPP is more about protecting the 1% rich and multi-national corporations than allowing free trade. Why else would it need to be kept secret?
Leaked documents show that unethical corporations like Monsanto, JPMorgan, Halliburton and Wallmart are heavily involved.

Antarg, I read your link. Just irrational and deranged nonsense. If there is anyone killing children by means of poverty it is you and your intent to kill off capitalism. The communism you promote had governments killing off more than 100 million of their own citizens last century. A mass murder including intentional starvation.

I think the kind of deranged rubbish you write is more suited to Frogbog, where most contributors send their messages in from the asylum by carrier pigeon, in between their breaks from basket weaving.

On Friday afternoon, Obama cancelled his trip to the leaders’ summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum on the island because of the American Budget crisis that has resulted in about 800,000 Government workers not being paid.

This is mostly bullshit. If you check American blogs,

Blogs… great source of information. How could it be wrong? It’s on the internet!

you will find that all the military and all civil servants had their wages continued, with the House passing separate bills to keep funding government.

No, essential services (military, courts etc.) are exempted from the restrictions of the Antideficiency Act which prohibits federal agencies from entering into financial obligations for which they do not have funding.

But senate leader Harry Reid and Obama are not applying them, because it does not suit their agenda.

You live in a bubble. The shutdown is entirely the agenda of the Republicans who believe that they can hold the economy to ransom in order to get what they want. To now cry about it is the height of hypocrisy.

They have even tried to close war memorials that are open to the public with no staff employed…

“If I were a lawyer for the Park Service, I’d advise it in no uncertain terms to close the parks to the public during the government shutdown, because it would be irresponsible to do otherwise,” writes Richard Seamon, a University of Idaho law professor who previously advised the National Park Service as an assistant to the solicitor general in the US Department of Justice, in an e-mail. If parks remain open, “there are bound to be accidents or crimes that would have been avoided or ameliorated had officials been on duty to respond or patrol.” Leaving the parks open, he adds, “would be a veritable open season for criminals.”

, and have prevented Catholic military chaplains from saying Mass on military grounds for military Catholic personnel.

Obama is just trying to inflict as much pain on the US people to further his Marxist agenda.

Oh dear. The park is closed. But denying people healthcare is painless apparently.

And its starting to backfire on him.

Right…

According to the Fox News poll, disapproval of the Republican Party has jumped from 46% in September of 2012 to 59% today. Disapproval of the GOP has climbed from 54% in January to 56% in April to nearing 60% today. Approval of the Republican Party has fallen from 45% to 35%. In contrast, Democratic Party unfavorability has stayed stable in the Fox poll at between 48% and 49% all through 2013.

…

Eighty one percent think the government shutdown is a serious problem, and they are blaming John Boehner and Ted Cruz (42%) more than they are blaming Harry Reid and President Obama (32%). A new CBS News poll confirmed the Fox News poll by finding that 44% of Americans blame Boehner and the Republicans for the shutdown, while 35% blame Obama and the Democrats.

Last Saturday a ride being held under the auspices of the American Endurance Riders Conference was closed down at midnight by state troopers or whatever they are called. I think it was in Arizona.
100 horse trucks/transporters had to load up their horses, fold their tents and move 100 METRES across the boundary out of the state park. All with the threat of guns being drawn if they didn’t MOVE!
This despite the trails being maintained by members and other trail users at no cost to the state.

Weihana, they are closing parks that are normally open 24/7 They are closing parks that are not funded by the government, but rather provide income to it.

Except they are funded by the government as the parks service is responsible for them. A shutdown of the government means they cannot employ staff. But they are still liable to anything that happens on these parks regardless of whether or not they are actively staffed. It is a no brainer to shut everything down in case there is any suggestion that anything that happened on them was in some way related to a lack of staff able to maintain or patrol or manage a park. If you weren’t aware, the US is not a country where lawsuits are a rarity.

The fact that a lawyer is prepared to backup this nonsense says a lot about that lawyer and not much about anyone else.

Oh FFS, it’s a park. It’s not essential and it’s closed to prevent any liability. That conservative muppets use this as demonstration of Obama’s desire to “inflict pain” shows little more than how out of touch and off the planet you people are.

If the Affordable Care Act was so disastrous they would let it fail and campaign on their opposition.

But you’ve just told us that they should not “take down the economy”. So should they, or should they not? Make up your mind.

There is no contradiction. You’re confused.

To use threats of government shutdown and debt defaulting shows quite clearly that they have little regard for the economy. And I’m quite sure that if they really thought that the ACA would fail, then they would let it and then reap the benefits of the next election.

@Antag
OK I actually went to the trouble of looking at your idiotic link.
So the article spends most of it’s time blathering on about the credentials of the whistle blower, then mutters vague innuendos that you are all enslaved, seriously short of evidence mind you.
I then clicked on one of links within the article that looked like they might actually have some evidence to back up the outlandish claims… only it wanted ti sell me a book on how we are all doomed.

You need to get more or take up a hobby or something.

Tell yah what.. why don’t you stick it to the man by not buying cheap shit from the Warehouse and buy only NZ made. Let me guess, you don’t.

why is the leader of two insignificant islands in the bottom of the pacific that has a huge govt which cannot properly administrate subbing for the US president ….Wall St connections of the smiling assassin is all I can answer that with!

It is you who are living in a bubble.
Its the likes of you who don’t understand the American system. The House of Representatives was designed to hold the purse strings to prevent a profligate president from running the economy into the dirt – which is what Obama is doing. The Republicans are acting RESPONSIBLY to try to prevent the US economy from going into freefall – which will happen if Obama has his way.

The so called Obamacare is actually unconstitutional – which is something you will probably read about in the next few days. As a tax, as determined by the SCOTUS, it has been illegally introduced by the Senate, without being passed through the HoR first.

It is you who are living in a bubble.
Its the likes of you who don’t understand the American system. The House of Representatives was designed to hold the purse strings to prevent a profligate president from running the economy into the dirt – which is what Obama is doing.

No, an economy running into the dirt is what Obama inherited. The economy has been growing since 2010 while the deficit has been reduced.

Also, the US system is a balance of powers. No branch of government holds absolute authority.

The Republicans are acting RESPONSIBLY to try to prevent the US economy from going into freefall – which will happen if Obama has his way.

Utter nonsense. The Republicans are using these threats to try and defund (because they can’t repeal) a law that has already been passed. It’s extortion.

The so called Obamacare is actually unconstitutional…

Oh bullshit. You lost. The court ruled it constitutional. It is law. Dry those tears and get over it. The United States is going to join the rest of the civilized world by ensuring people have access to health care.

which is something you will probably read about in the next few days. As a tax, as determined by the SCOTUS, it has been illegally introduced by the Senate, without being passed through the HoR first.

Get yourself up to speed.

The suit was dismissed and they are appealing. Start crowing when you actually have something to crow about.

Except they are funded by the government as the parks service is responsible for them. A shutdown of the government means they cannot employ staff.

They are closing parks where the staff are employed by private operators. Sorry, that wasn’t clear.

Oh FFS, it’s a park. It’s not essential and it’s closed to prevent any liability. That conservative muppets use this as demonstration of Obama’s desire to “inflict pain” shows little more than how out of touch and off the planet you people are.

Wow, I’m left wondering just how transparent their excuses need to be before you see through them.

They are closing parks where the staff are employed by private operators. Sorry, that wasn’t clear.

Wow, I’m left wondering just how transparent their excuses need to be before you see through them.

And you call me out of touch.

You mean, before I see the truth that Obama and his league of evil are hellbent on destroying the United States and turning it into a marxist islamist dictatorship?

Regardless of your views on whether or not they could better manage the shutdown, the simple fact remains that it is ludicrous for conservatives to complain about political tactics when the entire shutdown itself is a Republican tactic to extort concessions from other parts of the government that it does not control. It is holding the economy to ransom in order to get what it wants. Despite the fringe nutters that inhabit the blogosphere, most Americans are not on board with this strategy. It is promoted by a bunch of Tea Bagger nutjobs who are so safe within gerrymandered districts that there is effectively no consequences to their actions. But it could very well have an effect on the party overall, especially if they go absolutely postal and fail to raise the debt ceiling.

A large part of why they are so opposed to Obamacare is the effect on the economy.

So there is no path here which will not effect the economy, hence your argument is moot.

Really? I thought it was their creepy obsession with woman’s vaginas. I thought it was the “death panels”. I thought it was about “liberty”.

If they were really concerned about the economy they would enact a single payer system. Alas the US is left with the only feasible solution possible in the alternative universe that is American politics.

They will simply talk talk talk – publish a 200 page document which nobody reads and then decide to meet in a year’s time in some other exotic location. Game over. Nothing good ever comes out of these forums.

“No, an economy running into the dirt is what Obama inherited. The economy has been growing since 2010 while the deficit has been reduced.”

The world economy was declining in 2008.
I’m not suggesting that Bush had a growing economy.
But even if the economy is growing – at a snail’s pace because of O’Bumbler’s economic policies – the National debt of $17trillion is more than negating any growth in the economy.
That is why the Repubs want the ACA mandate delayed a year for Joe Blow American, as Obama has done for big business, Fed. govt politicians and soon probably, big labour unions.
The ACA is shambolic – people who have tried to register have found so many glitches in the system its unworkable at present.
There are so many problems with Obamacare – aside from the fact that it will send the country more broke – its causing unemployment or reduced employment. There are even some Democrats who have jumped ship on it. Even the architect of the system called it a trainwreck.
Time will tell, but good on Cruz and Boehner and the other repubs for holding out – the USA will be better for it. The govt. has been shut down 17 times before, and it was negotiated back into business. Obama and Reid are simply refusing to negotiate.

Well, one of the most important things to understand is it’s not really mainly about trade. I guess the way to think about it is as a corporate Trojan horse. The agreement has 29 chapters, and only five of them have to do with trade. The other 24 chapters either handcuff our domestic governments, limiting food safety, environmental standards, financial regulation, energy and climate policy, or establishing new powers for corporations.

…

And then there’s a whole set of very worrisome issues relating to Internet freedom. Through sort of the backdoor of the copyright chapter of TPP is a whole chunk of SOPA, the Stop Online Privacy Act, that activism around the country successfully derailed a year ago. Think about all the things that would be really hard to get into effect as a corporation in public, a lot of them rejected here and in the other 11 countries, and that is what’s bundled in to the TPP. And every country would be required to change its laws domestically to meet these rules. The binding provision is, each country shall ensure the conformity of domestic laws, regulations and procedures.

From Trading Economics:
“And since the recession in 2009, when it actually declined, has been growing an average rate of 3.6 percent.”

How does this compare over the long term?

From 1948 until 2013, the United States GDP Annual Growth Rate averaged 3.2 Percent

What trends are there?

Yet, in the last two decades, like in the case of many other developed nations, its growth rates have been decreasing. If in the 50’s and 60’s the average growth rate was above 4 percent, in the 70’s and 80’s dropped to around 3 percent. In the last ten years, the average rate has been below 2 percent and since the second quarter of 2000 has never reached the 5 percent level.

So in actual fact economic growth has been on a downward trend for some time and the post-recession growth is higher than the long term average over the last 65 years.

– the National debt of $17trillion is more than negating any growth in the economy.

And yet what has put us in this situation? In the conservative echo-chamber it is Obama. In 2001, the Congressional Budget Office project 5.6 trillion in accumulated surplus through to 2011. In actuality it was 6.1 trillion in accumulated increased debt. The causes?

Obama inherited a mess and what happens in a recession? The government takes on debt to keep things ticking along. Just like virtually every other country affected by the recession.

There are so many problems with Obamacare…

As compared to what? It’s certainly inferior to a single payer system but the so-called “free market” is worse than Obamacare. People pay for the uninsured regardless of whether they have insurance. But instead of providing preventive care people end up paying for emergency care at an increased cost. Meanwhile people get denied coverage for pre-existing conditions and lose their homes trying to pay outrageous medical costs.

Time will tell, but good on Cruz and Boehner and the other repubs for holding out – the USA will be better for it.

The US spends almost three times what we do per capita. It spends more than any other country. The system is not better because of it. It is just more wasteful because of blind ideology.

The govt. has been shut down 17 times before, and it was negotiated back into business. Obama and Reid are simply refusing to negotiate.

There is nothing to negotiate. Obamacare is law and the Republicans do not have the mandate to repeal it. Holding the economy hostage is not negotiation, it is extortion.